Closing Accounts with AU

I'm planning to cancel my Capital One cards in the near future, and trying to make sure I'm in the best position before doing so. They both have annual fees and there's no rewards, so I don't expect to use them anymore since I've got better options. One of them is my oldest account as it was the first card I ever got. I know that it will show on my credit report for another 10 years after I close it, so I don't have to worry about my AAoA taking a hit right away. However, my wife is also an AU on this account and I wasn't sure if it was the same policy.

If I close this account while my wife is an AU, will it stay on her report for 10 years or will it just disappear since she isn't an AU anymore, or what? She has actually never had any card in her own name other than this AU account, so having this one card disappear would be a pretty big knock to her score. We're planning to fix that and get a couple of cards of her own to get her credit profile padded a bit. I'll probably add her as an AU on other accounts too to help more with her AAoA. But this one particular card has the biggest potential to help her score out at the moment, so I may keep it open longer if I need to. But if I can close it and have it stay on her account anyway then I'll probably just go ahead and do that.

Re: Closing Accounts with AU

I do not know about the AU item, however, before you close it you should get a couple of cards only in your wife's name. Then her file will start to build. You also should have one or two cards only in your name. Then, place some major banking cards in your joint names. Both of your reports need to show individual credit and joint credit trade lines. Good Luck

Re: Closing Accounts with AU

Yeah, we're planning on getting her a couple of cards before I cancel that one... just curious what to expect when I do cancel it. I'd been focusing on my own credit since I handle most of the finances (and I'd been focusing on it before we were married). But she's never even applied for a credit card in her own name, so I'm going to start working with her to get her score up to in case there's ever a circumstance where she needs it.

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